2020 CPF Online Conference

Join us at the California Preservation online conference from May 18-May 20, 2020!

Michael Garavaglia will be moderating two learning sessions on the following topics, based on the firm’s real life experience: 

Wednesday, 05/20/2020, 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM

Where Form Based Code and Preservation Intersect

This dynamic interdisciplinary presentation introduces and applies form-based code methodologies and preservation planning principles (based on the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards) to several project scenarios as viewed from the perspective of professionals in preservation architecture, form-based code planning, and an economist. The speakers will include brief introductions to the Standards and Form Based Code concepts and then lead a discussion of sample projects including additions to historic buildings, constructing a tall building next to a historic resource, infill issues, and considerations of adapting form based code in respect to the existing character of a historic district or neighborhood.

Moderator and Speaker:  Michael Garavaglia, President, Garavaglia Architecture, Inc.; Speakers:  Matt Kowta, Principal, BAE Urban Economics; Tony Perez, Director of Form-Based Coding, Opticos

Wednesday05/20/202010:30 AM – 11:30 AM

Preston Castle, Ione, CA

Design From Prison to Possibility: The Preston School of Industry as Economic Driver

The adaptive reuse and preservation of the 300-acre Preston School of Industry has aided a small community’s effort to become a tourism destination. This session will highlight the non-profit Preston Castle’s Foundation’s stewardship of the property and the completion of a National Register nomination that addressed both the significance of the site and also acknowledged a complicated social history of the youth prison system. The potential of the property was revealed through economic feasibility studies and the identification of additional rehabilitation funding. The productive relationship between the community of Ione and tourism interests, paired with the identification of future economic and recognition opportunities, will be explored within this discussion.

Moderator:  Mike Garavaglia, Principal, Garavaglia Architecture; Speakers: Karl Knobelauch, President, Preston Castle Foundation; Jamie Armstrong, Executive Director, Amador County Chamber of Commerce

CPF Adaptive Reuse Workshop

President Michael Garavaglia will be speaking at this January 31, 2020 California Preservation Foundation Workshop in Fresno, California. https://californiapreservation.org/events/advanced-adaptive-reuse/

This advanced-level workshop will provide a 360-degree view of redeveloping historic properties for adaptive reuse and will focus on the incentives that help make such projects possible, including:

  • Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits (state and federal)
  • Mills Act tax incentives
  • New Markets Tax Credits
  • Low Income Housing Tax Credits
  • Economic Opportunity Zone funding
  • Adaptive reuse ordinances, and more…

Hope to see you there!

2019 Governor’s Preservation Award

Photo by the Independent News

The Livermore Train Depot has been awarded a 2019 Governor’s Historic Preservation Award; this prestigious award recognizes exemplary achievements in historic preservation and the preservation of California’s heritage.

GA, Inc. evaluated the Depot, originally built in 1892, for listing on the National and California Registers and worked with the City of Livermore to complete several technical studies for the Depot including a Historic Resource Evaluation (HRE) and Initial Study, a core Historic Structure Report (cHSR), a feasibility analysis of moving the structure to a different location, and a rehabilitation plan.

Our recommended rehabilitation plan included removal of non-historic additions, reconstruction of non-extant exterior and interior features from historic documentation; and development of recommendations for specific treatments and methods based on the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and the California Historical Building Code. We are honored to have played a part in the Train Depot’s preservation.

Michael Garavaglia, President, will be attending the award ceremony on January 22, 2020.

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